NHL lockout opens options at world event

INNSBRUCK, Austria – Mario Lemieux, Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic and Mats Sundin are skipping the world hockey championships. Still, this tournament is loaded with stars thanks to the National Hockey League lockout.

Most teams at the worlds usually rely on players whose NHL teams miss the playoffs or are eliminated early.

Not this time.

The lockout that shut down the NHL this season has left most of the best players free to compete in the two-week, 16-team event that starts today and ends May 15 in Vienna. The rosters are impressive, though not as strong as the ones from last year’s World Cup and the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Canada won the last two world titles and is favored to complete the hat trick. Russia, which beat 2003 and 2004 worlds runner-up Sweden in two games in last week’s European Hockey Tour final, appears a strong challenger.

The United States has a younger and stronger team than the one that captured the bronze medal last year in the Czech Republic.

“This tournament is going to get a lot more attention this year than in the past, and there’s going to be a lot of young guys who have a chance to step up,” said Washington Capitals center Jeff Halpern, one of eight players returning from last year’s squad.